Chapter 1758. To provide for the temporary government of the Canal Zone at Panama, the protection of the canal works, and for other purposes
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CHAP. 1758.— An Act To provide for the temporary government of the Canal Zone at Panama, the protection of the canal works, and for other purposes. April 28, 1904.[[S. 5342](/us/bill/58/s/5342).][[Public, No. 190](/us/pl/58/190).] *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* That the President is hereby Canal Zone at Panama. Possession and occupancy of, authorized. *Post,* p. 2038.authorized, upon the acquisition of the property of the New Panama Canal Company and the payment to the Republic of Panama of the ten millions of dollars provided by article fourteen of the treaty between the United States and the Republic of Panama, the ratifications of which were exchanged on the twenty-sixth day of February, nineteen hundred and four, to be paid to the latter Government, to take possession of and occupy on behalf of the United States the zone of land and hind under water of the width of ten miles, extending to the distance of five miles on each side of the center line of the, route of the canal to be constructed thereon, which said zone begins in the Caribbean Sea three marine miles from mean low-water mark and ex-tends to and across the Isthmus of Panama into the Pacific Ocean to the distance of three marine miles from mean low-water mark, and also of all islands within said zone, and in addition thereto the group of islands in the Bay of Panama named Perico, Naos, Culebra, and Flamenco, and, from time to time, of any hinds and waters outside of said zone which may be necessary and convenient for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation, and protection of the said canal, or of any auxiliary canals or other works necessary and convenient for the construction, maintenance, operation, sanitation, and protection of said enterprise, the use, occupation, and control whereof were granted to the United States by article two of said treaty.
The said zone is *Post,* p. 2034. Payment to Panama. *Post,* p. 2038. Vol. 32, p. 432. Appropriation.hereinafter referred to as “the Canal Zone.” The payment of the ten millions of dollars provided by article fourteen of said treaty shall be made in lieu of the indefinite appropriation made in the third section of the Act of June twenty-eighth, nineteen hundred and two, and is hereby appropriated for said purpose. Sec. 2. That until the expiration of the Fifty-eighth Congress, Powers of temporary government vest-ed in the President.unless provision for the temporary government of the Canal Zone be sooner made by Congress, all the military, civil, and judicial powers as well as the power to make all rules and regulations necessary for *Post,* p. 1246.the government of the Canal Zone and ail the rights, powers, and authority granted by the terms of said treaty to the United States shall be vested in such person or persons and shall be exercised in such manner as the President shall direct for the government of said Zone and maintaining and protecting the inhabitants thereof in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and religion.
Approved, April 28, 1904.